Vision assessment using the NIH Toolbox

TLDR

The NIH Toolbox seeks to create brief emotion measures for epidemiologic and clinical research, noting emotional health’s strong influence on physical health and life quality. The study presents an overview of developing the NIH Toolbox Emotion battery and its preliminary results. The Emotion team identified four core subdomains, reviewed existing measures, built item banks where needed, recruited a population‑weighted sample via an online survey, collected self‑report data from ages 8‑85 and proxy reports for children 3‑12, and analyzed the data with classic test theory and item response theory to produce efficient emotional‑health measures. Norming refined the battery, improving its robustness for researchers.

Abstract

One of the goals of the NIH Toolbox for Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function was to identify or develop brief measures of emotion for use in prospective epidemiologic and clinical research. Emotional health has significant links to physical health and exerts a powerful effect on perceptions of life quality. Based on an extensive literature review and expert input, the Emotion team identified 4 central subdomains: Negative Affect, Psychological Well-Being, Stress and Self-Efficacy, and Social Relationships. A subsequent psychometric review identified several existing self-report and proxy measures of these subdomains with measurement characteristics that met the NIH Toolbox criteria. In cases where adequate measures did not exist, robust item banks were developed to assess concepts of interest. A population-weighted sample was recruited by an online survey panel to provide initial item calibration and measure validation data. Participants aged 8 to 85 years completed self-report measures whereas parents/guardians responded for children aged 3 to 12 years. Data were analyzed using a combination of classic test theory and item response theory methods, yielding efficient measures of emotional health concepts. An overview of the development of the NIH Toolbox Emotion battery is presented along with preliminary results. Norming activities led to further refinement of the battery, thus enhancing the robustness of emotional health measurement for researchers using the NIH Toolbox.